Often in our lives, we stand at crossroads of our existence and ask one of the most mysterious question, "Who am I?". Dive deep into the ocean of vedas, upanishads and eastern philosophy of Sanatan Dharm, which gives a very detailed, thorough and pr...
Once again, the guru refutes his own supposition and proceeds ahead, "If you are not the Pranamaya, then you must be something deeper. Once again Vedanta tell us, 'Look within!' What is it that is interior or deeper to this sheath of life force? It is the Manomaya – the sheath of the mind or Manas (अन्तः करण). The manas is subtler or deeper than the prana. Manas consists of thoughts and desires."
In her own mind, the student thought, "Why not! Doesn't everyone identify themselves with their thoughts, ideas, memories, likes and dislikes, beliefs and disbeliefs, feelings, emotions, in fact their very personality? Don't I perceive everything with my mind? Don't I understand everything with my mind?". However, she knew she might be missing something. Because when it came to prana, she was convinced that she was the life force. But then as they looked deeper, they found that the life force also became an object of experience. So, she listens intently to what is coming next.
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The guru begins to explain again, "You may have well thought that your mind is you. Most of us do identity ourselves with our personality. No matter how wise we are, we find ourselves in congruency with our thoughts, feelings, emotions, ideas, and so on. But, look closely. Is it you who is aware of your thought or is the thought that is aware of you? When you feel happy, it is you who knows that you are happy. So yes, you are aware of your emotions and feelings. But vice versa is not true. When it comes to desires, it is you who is aware of that desire. When you want something, it is you who wants that object of desire. So do you think you are the mind? No! Because you are the one who is also observing that mind. Just like you are experiencing the hand and the life force, you are also experiencing the mind. Your thoughts, feelings, emotions, ideas, and so on are also experienced by you. Their effects may appear as behaviour to others, but it is you personally, who is experiencing them. You have a privileged, vantage first person point of view. Vajasaneyis, the patronymic lineage of Yajnavalkya* briefs the states of the mind as:
Desire, representation, doubt, faith, want of faith, firmness, want of firmness, shame, reflection, fear, thirst fondness passion, covetousness – all is mind.
Which is why, when you feel anger, your conscious choice or action can channelize that anger into something less fierce or harsh situation. So, it is you who is channelising the emotion created in the mind. The mind tells you to become angry and revert back in the same intensity to the situation. However, it is your consciousness or awareness that informs you of this violent intensity and tries to push you in opposite calmer direction.
Think about the desires. We know that desires are many or infinite in number, but are you many individual who is distinctly experiencing those desires? No! You are the one and only one who is experiencing many desires.
So, if I am experiencing the mind, the mind becomes the object. I am the seer (दृष्टा) of the mind and the mind is the seen (दृश्य). Because the mind changes. Every moment, our thoughts change. We have thousands of thoughts each day. So, yes the mind is changing (विकारी), but I am the unchanged (निर्विकारी). I am the conscious (चेतन), the mind is insentient (जड़). So, how can I be the mind? And thus Vedanta says, 'you are not the mind'.
This is the very reason that most meditators talk about 'mindfulness' and not consciousness in the beginning of a Sadhana. And this is also the reason why yogis* and yoginis are well-trained in controlling the thoughts that can impact the mind. Because when the mind is not in control, fear arises. Fear of losing, fear of tyranny, fear of dependency and so many different fears that bound the being in their shackles. So, when the mind is in harmony, the thoughts, ideas, feelings, emotions, desires do not control you. It must be you who should control them. In the controlling of the mind, all mental chaos go away. And there is no place left for hatred, violence, attachments and such sorts of emotions to enter the manas. Thus, the man is free from all fears of the world. What is left is the harmonised calm mind."
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Notes:
* Yajnavalkya – He is considered as a one of the most prominent Hindu sages, born in the vedic period. He is renowned to have found the doctrine of "neti neti" to discover the innermost, truest self.
* Yogi – A yogi is generally a practitioner of yoga or some kind of meditative practices in Indian culture. Such individual, who is a female, is called Yogini.
